BJP targets Chidambaram again, people will answer in LS polls

New Delhi, April 1: BJP on Tuesday kept up its attack on Finance Minister P Chidambaram, saying he may not answer questions posed by it on the country's economy but the people will answer by voting for it in the Lok Sabha elections.

Accusing the UPA government of abandoning reforms, senior party leader Arun Jaitley said growth rate in initial years was driven by the global environment and the impetus of the past policies.

Thereafter, the growth rates depleted and revenue generation became modest, he said. "Expenditure and economic activity started shrinking. Employment generation has been extremely slow.

The farm sector has not done well either. It is under a serious pressure. The manufacturing sector has not grown and during certain quarters it has even shrunk," he wrote on his blog.

BJP treasurer Piyush Goyal objected to Chidambaram's use of the word "puerile" to dismiss questions posed to him by its leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha and said a minister who has no "answers" to people's concerns over price rise and unemployment may say so but not others.

"Is talking about price rise childish and silly? When people are asking about lack of jobs, he (Chidambaram) says it is childish....An FM who has no answer may call it puerile but people will answer by voting for BJP," he said.

If voted to power, he said, BJP will offer concrete solution to economic woes and "simplify and rationalise" taxation system.

Taking a dig at UPA, he said the RBI's decision to keep the repo rate unchanged today was likely driven by its hope that a "better" government will take over in May.

PTI